Motor vehicle signal



y 1936. c. w. HUOTARI 2,040,382

MOTOR VEH ICLE S IGNAL Fiied April 2, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I 'Ywentm' G, W #410 72 r/ Attorney May 12, 1936. c. w. HUOTARI 2,040,382

MOTOR VEHICLE SIGNAL Filed A ril 2/1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Inventor C. W flaofaw' Byp wm Attorney y- ,1936. c. w. HUOTARL 2 04 MOTOR VEHICLE SIGNAL Filed April 2, 1934 5 $heets-Sheet 3 I nventm' ypwm Attomey MOTOR VEHICLE SIGNAL Filed April 2', 1934 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Inventor.

Atto'rney M y 1936- c. w. HUOTARl MOTOR VEHICLE SIGNAL 5 Shets-Sheet S 7 Filed April 2, 1954 G. W fi aofqrf V Attorney Patented May 12, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE .MOTOR VEHICLE SIGNAL Charles W. Huotari, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application April 2, 1934, Serial No. 718,719

2-Claims.

This invention relates to a motor vehicle signal, the general object of the invention being .to'

provide simple means for indicating when the vehicle is to make a right or left turn oris to stop, with means whereby the signal can be actuated by the driver or operator of the vehicle.

A further object of the inventionistomake the signal member in such a manner thatit can be readily observed both from itheirear and front of the vehicle and from the sides thereof.

This invention also consists in certain other features of construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and specifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like or corresponding parts throughout the several views, and in which:

Figure 1 is aperspective view of portion of an automobile, showing the invention in use-thereon.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the device, showing the interior parts.

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the rotary member of the signal and showing the .brushzfor controlling the electric circuit to the lamp.

Figure 4 is a section on lined-40f Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a view showing a modification.

Figure 6 is a view of the notched plate shown in Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a side view of the signalcasing.

Figure 8 is .a longitudinal sectional view through the signal casing.

Figure 9 is a section on line 9-9 of Figure '7.

Figure 10 is an end view of the signal casing.

In these drawings, the numeral I indicates a box which is adapted to be suitably connected to the left hand front corner of the body of the vehicle on the interior thereof and a tubular shaft 2 passes through the box and is rotatably supported therein and an elbow-shaped tubular shaft 3 has one end adjustably connected with the outer end of the shaft 2, as shown at 4, the outer end of the shaft 2 passing through a hole formed in the corner post and passing through the front face of the post, as shown in Figure 1. A signal casing 5 has a tubular stem 6 connected to its base part which telescopes into the outer portion of the member 3 and these parts are adjustably connected together by screws, one of which is shown at I. The casing 5 has its major portion of cylindrical shape, with its outer end pointed, as shown, and the cylindrical part of the casing is detachably connectedto the base 8. A socket 9 is located in thesignal casing and carries the bulb Ill and the front and rear parts of the casing are provided with the arrow-shaped openings II which are covered by the similarly 5 shaped transparent members 1-2, each of which is corrugated transversely, as shown in :Figure ,3, and I prefer to make the front transparentmember yellow and the rear one red. A pairof openings 13 is formed in the .outer end of thesignal l0 casing and eachopening l;3:is arranged a quarter turn from the heads of .thearroweshaped openings I l and corrugated lenses 14 cover theseopenings l3 and I prefer to make thesetransparent members M of red color. I prefer to make the 15 openings as shown in Figures '7, 8 and 10, so that themaximum amount of light will pass from the casing when the bulb is lighted and when the device is in raised position, as shown by the letters, E, Land s in Figure 1, it willbe seen that the illuminated casing can be seen from both the front and rear of the automobile and from the sides thereof. When looking at the device from certain'points, the arrow heads seem largerdueto the construction and arrangement of the casing and the openings therein.

Inthe first form of the invention, a handle .15 is connected to the inner end of the'shaft ,2 and passes through a slot IS in the box so that'it can be reached by the operator of the vehicle, and a plate I! is pivoted in the box at its upper end, as shown at 18, and the inner edge of the plate is formed withthe three notches I9 forming three shoulders :for en a ement .by th handle 15f holding the handle with the signal member in operative position. A spring 20 pushes the plate I! toward the handle l5 so that the handle will be held in lowered position by one of the shoulders. A right angle extension 2| is formed on the lower end of the plate and a handle 22 is 40 connected to the extension and passes through a hole in the box and by pushing inwardly on this handle 22, the plate I! is pressed against the action of the spring 20 so that it will move out of the path of the handle l5 to permit the signal casing to drop by gravity to its inoperative position, shown at X in Figure 1. It, will, of course, be understood that as the plate ll moves inwardly and the signal casing drops downwardly under the action of gravity, the handle l5 moves upwardly. Then when the handle is moved downwardly by the operator, it will slide over the beveled inner edge of the plate I! and if the operator wishes to display the Stop signal, he lets the handle [5 rest in the upper notch, but if he by turning will frictionally engage the shaft 2 to act as a 7 arm 28 check for the rotary movement of the shaft.

When the signal is set in any one of its three positions, it can be easily returned to inoperative position by simply pushing in upon thehandle 22, which pushes the plate away from the handle l5, which permits the signal to return to inoperative position, shown at X in Figure 1.

Figure shows a slight modification of the invention'wherein the signal is operated from a pedal 26, the rod 21 of which is connected to the which is attached to the end of the shaft and takes the place of the handle arm I5 so that by depressing the'pedal with the foot, the signal is swung into operative position, as before described, and this figure also shows a pedal 29,

the'rod 30 of which is connected to a plate3| which has an' inclined slot 32 therein having a horizontal slot 33 communicating with its lower end. A pin 34 on the'notched plate 11' extends into the slotted part of the plate 3| and a spring 35 on the rod 30 tends to hold the rodand plate 3| in an upper position with the pin 34 in the horizontal slot 33 so that thenotched plate II will be moved against the action of its spring 20 when the arm 28 is swung downwardly. When his desired to move the signal to inoperative position, the pedal 29 is depressed so as to move the plate 3| downwardly and this will cause the pin 34 to pass through the inclined slot 32 and thus the plate ll will be moved away from the arm 28 to release the arm and thus the signal will return to inoperative position.

A conductor 36 passes'from the battery of the car or from any other suitable source of electricity to the stem 31 slidably arranged in a cylinder 38 located in the box and the stem is normally pressed downwardly by a spring 39 in the cylinder 38 so as to press the head 40 of the stem against a contact strip 4| carried by .a.

strip 4| of non-conducting material which surrounds a portion of the shaft 2. A conductor 42 ,is connected with the contact strip 4| andis insulated from the tube 2 and passes through saidtube or tubular shaft 2 and through the tubular shaft 3 and the tubular stem 6 to the socket 9 of the bulbso that when the head 40 is in engagement with the contact strip 4| the current will flow to the bulb and return to the source by suitable ground means. However, when the head 40 is engaging the non-conducting strip 4|, the circuit will be broken and these parts 4| and 4| are so arranged that when the signal'a'rm is in the position'X the circuit will be broken but when raised into any of the positions R, L and S, the

' circuit will be completed. Thus the circuit to the lamp is automatically controlled by the positioning of the signal casing.

Thus it will be seen that I have provided a simple form of directional signal for a motor vehicle and one which can be easily set to its three operative positions and which can be quickly released so that it will drop into inoperative position, with means whereby the signal can be operated either by hand or by the feet.

It is thought'from the foregoing description that the advantages and novel features ofthe invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction and in the combination and arrangement of the several parts, provided that such changes fall within the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:- V

1. In a signal of the class described, a signal casing including a cylindrical portion terminat-j ing in-a pointed portion, front and rear arrowshaped windows in said casing having their heads extending into the pointed portion and windows in the pointed part of the casing, arranged a quarter turn from the heads of the arrow-shaped windows, and a lamp in the casing. I

2 In a signal of the class describ'edfan arm 4 including a horizontal portion and a portion extending at substantially right angles to the horizontal portion, a signal casing connected tothe outer end of the right-angularly extending portion, said signal casing including a cylindrical portion terminating in a pointed portion, oppositely arranged arrow-shaped windows in said casing having their heads extending into the pointed portion, windows in the pointed portions placed opposite each. other, and each window being located at quarter-turns fromthe heads of the arrow-shaped windows, means for illuminat-' ing said casing.

CHARLES W. HUOTARI. 

